China reveals the world’s first supercritical C02 generator but the U.S. is in advanced deployment stage

By Jeffrey A. Newman Esq.

China just announced Chaotan One, which it called the world’s first commercial deployment of the sC02 power generator in a steel factory in Liupanshui, Guizhou Province. This facility has two 15 megawatt units that were connected to the grid last month. This, China says will herald in a new era of power generation using C02 obviating the need to convert water into steam. But China is not the only country developing C02 generators. In fact, multiple U.S. entities are developing supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂) Brayton‑cycle power systems, and there is already a substantial U.S. patent estate around these machines. The key U.S. entities are:

• Sandia National Laboratories / National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC (NTESS)
  • Owns patents on cascaded recompression closed Brayton cycle systems using supercritical working fluids such as CO₂, aimed at compact, high‑efficiency power conversion.
• Peregrine Turbine Technologies (Maine-based company)
  • Assignee on “System and method for generating power using a supercritical fluid,” which describes an integrated dual‑cycle system with a closed supercritical fluid Brayton cycle (including supercritical CO₂) coupled to a fossil‑fuel open Brayton cycle.
• Individual U.S. inventors / entities integrating sCO₂ with other cycles
  • A granted patent on “Integrated supercritical CO₂/multiple thermal cycles” (US11492964B2) covers an integrated energy system combining a supercritical CO₂ thermodynamic cycle with other cycles (Brayton air, Rankine) using heat from nuclear, solar, hydrogen, and fossil fuels.

In practice, these patents reflect U.S. work on the same underlying technology class as China’s demonstration unit: compact sCO₂ Brayton‑cycle turbomachinery for power generation and heat recovery.

U.S. supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂) power cycles are yet in routine commercial utility operation, but there are U.S. plants that have demonstrated grid connection or are in advanced pilot or early‑deployment stages;

Demonstration and pilot plants in the U.S.

• NET Power Allam‑Fetvedt cycle – La Porte, Texas (demo plant)
  • A 50 MWth natural‑gas‑fired Allam cycle plant in La Porte uses sCO₂ as the working fluid and has delivered power to the ERCOT grid, but it is a demonstration facility, not a full commercial plant.​
  • The test facility has achieved first fire, grid synchronization, and intermittent delivery of electricity, generating data to support commercial projects.​
• STEP Demo sCO₂ pilot plant – San Antonio, Texas (10 MWe)
  • The Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) Demo pilot plant at Southwest Research Institute is a 10 MWe sCO₂ Brayton‑cycle plant funded by DOE to prove the technology.​
  • Mechanical completion was reported in 2023, the plant reached full‑speed operation in 2024, and is entering a new testing phase to reach its full 10 MWe net capacity; it is still a pilot/demonstration, not a commercial generator.​
• Sandia National Laboratories sCO₂ Brayton test loop – Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • Sandia has operated a simple recuperated closed‑loop sCO₂ Brayton system, briefly delivering up to about 10 kW to the Sandia–Kirtland AFB grid as a technology demonstration.​
  • The facility is for R&D and scale‑up and is not configured as a commercial generating station.​

Commercial‑scale projects under development

• NET Power 300 MW plant – near Odessa, Texas
  • NET Power plans its first 300 MW utility‑scale Allam cycle gas‑fired plant at an Occidental‑hosted site near Odessa, Texas.​
  • This project is described as the first “serial number one” commercial plant; it has been selected and announced but is in development and not yet in commercial operation.​

The U.S. currently has operating sCO₂ pilot and demonstration facilities (La Porte, STEP Demo, Sandia), and a 300‑MW NET Power plant is moving toward commercial deployment in Texas, but no plant is yet running as a standard, continuously dispatched commercial generator.

Jeffrey Newman is a whistleblower lawyer whose law firm represents whistleblowers revealing violations of export controls, tariff evasions, money laundering, healthcare fraud and other kinds of WB cases. The firm represents individuals both in the United States and other countries. Mr. Newman and his firm staff also represent physicians and other healthcare providers who become whistleblowers in healthcare fraud cases. Whistleblower laws in the U.S. allow individuals anywhere with information about export control violations or tariff fraud to reveal the information under The False Claims act or through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Whistleblower Program. The Firm’s website is  at www.JeffNewmanLaw.com  and attorney Newman can be reached at Jeff@Jeffnewmanlaw.com or at 978-880-4758